It is common to use helicopters for evacuation of injured persons from the site of a vehicle accident, a fire, or other disaster. It is also common to use helicopters for evacuation of persons lost in the wild, who have been located by a rescue party. It is not uncommon for helicopters to have difficulty with landing at these sites, which are less than ideal, even to the extent of crashing. Further, having landed in an inappropriate fashion, the helicopter may have difficulty taking off due to a combination of wind conditions and local obstacles, and the like. One problem is knowledge of wind direction. Another problem is locating the site, particularly at night, when there may be all sorts of conflicting light patterns rendering the detection of a rescue team or other emergency personnel from the air very difficult. In some cases, the use of a helicopter in covert operations, such as to evacuate an observation team or other agents may compound the problem by requiring that any assistance given to the helicopter not provide any indication of the presence of the evacuees to unfriendly or unauthorized personnel.